Charles Booth poverty map notes for East Dulwich area

[ed_pete]

I found this archive recently and it contains images of Charles Booths handwritten notes whilst he walked the area gather the data for his poverty map of late Victorian London. In this example he walks a loop starting at Choumert Road, heads up to Denmark Hill, Red Post Hill, East Dulwich Grove, Goose Green and Adys Road. You can access other walks he did in the area using the drop-down in the top RHS of the screen.

http://booth.lse.ac.uk/notebooks/b375/jpg/23.html

The colours he refers to are his classification:

BLACK: Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal.

DARK BLUE: Very poor, casual. Chronic want.

LIGHT BLUE: Poor. 18s. to 21s. a week for a moderate family

PURPLE: Mixed. Some comfortable others poor

PINK: Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings.

RED: Middle class. Well-to-do.

YELLOW: Upper-middle and Upper classes. Wealthy.

[LondonMix]

Interesting! My road was pink as is most of East Dulwich apparently. Surprised by which streets were purple in ED - Blackwater / Chesterfield.

[DadOf4]

I've actually got the gprahical map of that hanging on my wall - you can buy them at the piture framers on Grove Vale

What always amazes me is that Camberwell/Denmark Hill are THE most affluent areas on the map. Makes me look at the Maudsley Hospital buildings in a different way

[Jeremy]

DadOf4 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What always amazes me is that Camberwell/Denmark

> Hill are THE most affluent areas on the map. Makes

> me look at the Maudsley Hospital buildings in a

> different way

Not sure why that is surprising, with all the large townhouses on Camberwell Grove and Grove Lane.. even a few proper mansions round Champion Hill.

[edcam]

This has made me remember The Secret History of our streets, inspired by Charles Booth. That was a brilliant series. We were living on Camberwell Grove when it was broadcast and they did one about it. Absolutely fascinating.

[picmicnic]

Agree it was a great series. From memory it said Camberwell Grove has gone from being affluent, to down trodden, to affluent again. Maybe if I wait another 50 years it will become down trodden again and I might be able to afford a house there!

[ed_pete]

Nice little insight noted by Booth at the end of one of the walks:

"At this point we were obliged to stop. Rain had fallen off and on all the morning and had now settled into a steady shower. PC Jones is a cheery fellow, whom even a drizzling rain cannot damp. He talks freely as we walk along. Today the conversation turned on the Drink question. He is not an abstainer; likes an occasional glass. He would like to see the public houses closed on Sunday, also the clubs. It would be no use to close the pubs without the clubs. The men would simply go to the clubs to drink. Now they go to the clubs in the morning and as soon as the public houses are open they are into them. He thinks that 19 out of 20 policemen would like Sunday closing. Prominent amongst the reasons is the fact that they would be able to have two days off a month instead of one as at present."

[edhistory]

Here's the previous thread:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,57435,57435#msg-57435

If you read the notebook you will see the East Dulwich classification was "done" by a local policeman.

The Camberwell Grove TV documentary was very funny.

John K

[philma]

This is fascinating reading. Thanks for posting.

[Pugwash]

I lived in Spurling Road from 1950 = 1969 - our rented property had no bathroom, no hot water system, poor electrical wiring, and one outside loo for 2 families, water running down the walls from the flat roof. Party of the street was designated for 'slum clearance' as houses were in poor condition. Never happened and they are all still standing!

[rjsmall]

By co-incidence I was in the Museum of London on Saturday and they have an exhibit and interactive display with the maps http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/galleries/peoples-city-1850s-1940s/ Very interesting to look at what was in the area 125 years ago.